An Earl in Night Raven College (Book One)

The Crimson Tyrant: Part 15

"Good mooorning! Did you all enjoy your sleepover? Did you bond over pillow fights and card games?" Cater asked as he walked into the lounge

"We didn't have a pillow fight." I said as I let out a yawn as Ace and Grim began to wake up.

"Oh, good morning, Cater. We did play some cards as well as a board game, yeah. But only Old Maid and Monopoly, 'cause those was the only ones Grim and Ciel knew how to play." Ace said as he got up

"For the last time, Ace... I didn't know how to play, I just took chances and guesses..." I said with a groan

"And I still got old maid every time, dang it!" Grim growled

"Let's just say Grim doesn't have a very good poker face. Ciel on the other hand... His poker face is very hard to read." Deuce said with a smile

"It's not that good..." I said awkwardly as Deuce, Ace ad Grim looked at me with a 'yes it is." look.

"Well. you should get one of the tarts we made yesterday and go apologize to Riddle. And you should probably hurry, because after the trouble yesterday, we're a little short-handed." Cater said as I saw that he was sweating and looking a bit tired.

"What does that mean?" Ace asked

"Don't worry. I've totes got it under control. Anyway, off to the party we go!" Cater said as he left the dorm in a hurry.

We looked at each other before shrugging as I got Ace and Grim to fold the blankets and pillows before putting them neatly next to the pile Deuce made. Then I grab the tart from the fridge as I handed it to Ace in a paper bag. He took the back from me as we walked out of the dorm, making sure the door closed behind us. Ace looked determined to get Riddle's forgiveness but I can tell that he was nervous too. I reassured him that he got this, he gave me a thankful smile as we entered the mirror to the dorm and made our way to the dorm's entrance.

"All right, so I'll hand over the tart and say I'm sorry, then-" Ace was cut off from explaining his plan when we saw Cater again, only this time he was in his P.E. clothes.

"Hey, It's about time I got back! Good to see me!" Cater said

"Cater, why are you wearing your-" I was cut off when I saw... Cater?

'But he's-' I looked towards the Cater before us

"And me! Looking good as always, me!" Cater A said

"Bwuh?!" Me and the others cried out in shock

"Th-there're two Caters?!" Deuce questioned in shock

"Are you guys identical twins?!" Ace asked in shock

"I don't think that's the case..." I said while being in shock

"Nope. Don't have any siblings. What I DO have is my signature spell, Split Card. It let's me make magic duplicates of myself." Cater A explains

"This must be how Cater kept coming after we beat him over and over again yesterday..." Deuce said with a wince

"Seems so..." I said with an awkward smile.

"Welcome home, daaarlings." Cater C greeted us, wearing a lab coat and equipment.

"Good to see you, Ciel!" Cater D greeted me, wearing the ceremonial robes

"Good to see you too..." I said with a small smile

"You're late! I was worried sick!" Cater B cried out

"Bwah! There're more of them?" Ace cried out

"J-S-Y-K, I'm actually the real Cater. Making these duplicates is suuuper exhausting, so I can't maintain them for long. Anyway, if we're late, heads will roll. And since we're several people short, we'll need your help. But when this is over, I promise I'll take you straight to Riddle." Cater B explains

"What, MORE roses?" Grim said with a deadpanned look

"And here we go again!" Ace said with an annoyed look

"Get the lead out, peeps! We need to get started!" Cater said

He lead us to the rose maze along with his clones as we stood by a couple of bushes that were either unpainted or half-painted. I can tell that Cater was working very hard to get the roses red, but what confused me why was he doing this alone? What happened that caused the other students to not help him out? My thoughts could only direct to one person, and that was none other than Riddle. Did Riddle collared more students beside Ace and those three students from morning? 

"Okay, mes! Split up and get to painting this yard red!" Cater ordered his clones

"Kay-kay!"

"You got it!"

"Sure thing!"

They then went off into different directions, leaving us with Cater to see where he wanted us to go as he smiles at us. After he made sure his clones were gone he handed me and Ace a bucket of paint and paint brushes.

"As for you freshman, you'll be be sticking with me and my Roses." Cater said with a smile

"I'm so over doing this the hard way..." Ace groans as I chuckle

"Don't worry, Ace. This will all be over soon." I said with a smile

"Whining won't get it done. Buckle down already." Deuce tells Ace

"I'm just gonna update my Magicam first... JK! Time to hustle!" Cater said

We each began to paint the roses as we each took a rose bush in Cater's selected area as each Cater had their own area. Thanks to having to paint the roses before yesterday, I wasn't having any trouble what's so ever. The same was said to the others as they too weren't having any trouble as well. Cater seems to be very pleased by this as he continued to paint the roses on each of the bushes. I was done with my bush as I saw Deuce and Grim were almost done with theirs.

"Red... Red... RED!" Deuce chanted as he turned the rose red

"Ooh! Smooth move! We'll be done in time for the party at this rate, no problem!" Cater states

"Anyone would be a master at this after all the work you put us through yesterday." Ace informs Cater

"That's true, we have practice!" I said with a smile

"Myah! Myyyaaah!" Grim changed a couple of the roses red with no trouble.

"Haha! Even Grim's going all in on this one!" Cater said

"Nicely done, Grim." I praised him as he smiles

We then continue to paint the roses as I began to hum to myself while I was painting, what I humming I don't know. But what I didn't expect was that Cater was humming with me as he was trying to follow the tune. I guess he loves music, but I don't know what kind of music maybe I can ask him later. After awhile of painting, I finished with my roses as I saw the others were too besides Deuce. We watched as he only had one left to paint as we waited patiently so we don't make him lose his focus and mess up.

"One more to go... Rose, be red!" Deuce pleaded as he turned the rose red like he wanted.

"Myah... That wasn't easy, but we still got it done!" Grim said

"Yup, that's what truly matters." I stated

"So what's the verdict, Cater? You better LOVE it!" Ace asked Cater as he was thinking

"You wanna know if it makes the grade, huh? Okay... Survey says: Lookin' fresh, freshmen! Gold star and an E for effort!" Cater graded us as we all cheered

'Now, let's go get the tart to Riddle!'